Rockin' 4 Relief

Supporting the families of our fallen heroes

What is Rockin' 4 Relief?

Our Story

We've loved every minute of our journey.

Inspiration

My name is Jennifer Rubin, I'm 21 years old, and I am a student at Southeast Missouri State University studying Communication Studies with a minor in Criminal Justice with the desire of becoming a police officer.

When I was 10 years old, I went through the D.A.R.E. program and began volunteering at community events with my local police department. I began asking questions about law enforcement and learned at a young age that police officers, along with all other emergency responders, risk their lives on a daily basis which inspired me to give back to them.

What We Do

When I was 12 years old, I launched a fundraiser called Rockin' 4 Relief. We are a teen-based organization that raises money for families of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics who were killed in the line of duty. Every year, we send teenagers out to different locations to rock in rocking chairs for 10 hours straight and collect money from customers who walk by. This fundraiser originated in St. Louis and has now expanded through southeast Missouri.

First Year Struggles

Our very first year in 2009, we rocked at a local gym and raised $750. As a 12 year old, my goal was to raise $1,000 and was extremely disappointed when we failed to reach that goal. Instead of giving up, it made me that much more determined to continue because I felt like emergency responders deserved more than that.

Overcoming

In 2010, we moved to a grocery store and nearly tripled what we did during year one and raised more than $2,000. At that point in time, I realized how much potential we had and it continued to sky rocket from there. We began adding locations, volunteers, and sponsors, and I never expected the support we've had throughout the years.

Social Media Blast

In 2012, I was on Twitter sending out blasts with the website address hoping celebrities, athletes, broadcasters, and other public officials would retweet it and draw people to the website. It drew thousands of people, and unexpectantly, thousands of dollars. Instead of retweeting the website, Oprah Winfrey decided to match the $12,000 I had raised at the time, and add $1,000 to get us to a cumulative total of $25,000.

Mourning the Loss of Our Own

In 2013, the work of my fundraiser hit close to home when the local police department that I was a Police Explorer for lost two officers within 30 days of each other. Detective Chris Simpson and Officer Joe Smith both passed away from heart attacks. Officer Smith had been a huge part of Rockin' 4 Relief, as he donated money the year before, provided t-shirts for our volunteers before Rockin '4 Relief had enough money to get our own, and he rocked for many hours during the 2012 event.

Moving Cities

In 2014, I left for college two hours away from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau, Missouri and in 2015, Rockin' 4 Relief came too. We raised $45,000 in just the first four years thanks to our local emergency responders and businesses coming together to allow us to expand into a new city. We now host two events a year, one in St. Louis, and one throughout southeast Missouri.

Shattering Goals

In 2018, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary! My goal was to break $200,000. Unfortunately, after our two events for the year, we were $1,700 short. I then received a phone call that led to an anonymous envelope that contained $1,700 cash inside!

In January 2018, I became a police officer myself. Now, my firefighter boyfriend and I are continuing to work hard to make Rockin' 4 Relief grow each and every day.

To think that we only raised $750 our first year, to reaching $200,000 now has been absolutely surreal and I can't thank everyone enough for all of the support!

Keep on rockin'!

Stay safe,

Jennifer Rubin

Founder of Rockin' 4 Relief

News

Rockin' 4 Relief 2018 is scheduled for October 20th in Cape Girardeau and November 3rd in St. Louis. Check back in August to register!

Rockin' 4 Relief 2017 in St. Louis raised $16,900 giving us a total of more than $30,000 for the year, and nearly $164,000 total since 2009!

Rockin' 4 Relief 2017 in Cape Girardeau raised $14,000!

Money Raised

2009- $751.01

2010- $2,028.16

2011- $9,552.02

2012- $20,387.88

2013- $23,801.00

2014- $18,000.00

2015- $5,000.00 (Cape)

2015- $14,649.62 (STL)

2016- $10,000.00 (Cape)

2016- $13,000 (STL)

2017- $14,000 (Cape)

2017- $16,905.49 (STL)

2018- $16,000 (Cape)

2018- $21,000 (STL)

Oprah Winfrey- $13,000.00

Special Donation- $2,500.00

Total- $200,575.18

Donate

Donations may be sent to

Rockin' 4 Relief

PO Box 35

Chesterfield, MO. 63006

Volunteer

For information on how to volunteer, e-mail Jennifer Rubin at rockin4relief@hotmail.com. Thank you for your interest!